Should you skip plastic-wrapped candy for toddlers because of the microplastics?

What's actually in it

Hard candy, gummies, and lollipops are usually wrapped in soft polyethylene or polypropylene film. The film grips the sugary surface, and tiny flakes break off when the candy is squeezed, warmed in a pocket, or sucked on. Those flakes are microplastics.

Toddlers eat candy slowly. They mouth it, drop it, and pick it up. That's a lot of contact time for plastic to migrate from the wrapper to the candy and into the body.

What the research says

A 2026 study in Sci Total Environ tested plastic-wrapped candies and counted microplastic particles on the surface. Wrapped candies had tens to hundreds of plastic flakes per piece. The team modeled the dose for kids and found toddlers ate the most plastic per pound of body weight.

Long-stored and warm-stored candies were the worst because the plastic film softened and shed faster.

For little kids, pick foil-wrapped chocolates, paper-wrapped caramels, or candy from a glass jar at the bulk bin. Those still have sugar, but at least the wrapper isn't part of the snack.